I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Here was my day.

Alarm was set at 8:00.

A/C guys woke me an hour before that.

Did I mentioned that yesterday Adam called me to the window to show me how cute they all were.

I went to bed at 2:00.

Turned off the light at 3:00.

I get up and go to get to my appointment.

I’m exhausted.

My appointment goes well.

I can have one more shot before surgery.

I stop for a soda water at McDonald’s.

And start toward work.

I can hardly hold my eyes open.

I decide I need a nap. Or I’m not going to make it.

I end up parking at a park across from the restaurant.

I’m in the shade.

I turn up the A/C, put a jacket over me. Put my seat back and nap for 90 minutes.

I’m still napping when I get a text that some gas come for an interview.

I tell him I’ll be there in 30 minutes and nap some more.

I get to work.

My interview is there.

All goes well till he tells me he is going to Scotland for 16 days in July.

I thank him but say sorry.

I get caught up.

My emails are answered.

The calls are answered.

A girk comes for an interview. She’ll get hired tomorrow.

Then a guy comes in. He is not on my calendar. Perhaps I made a mistake.

I interview him.

He doesn’t have experience as a server.

I them tell him what I’ve told lots of people.

I don’t/can’t/won’t hire people to serve without experience

I don’t have the bandwidth.

Or the dollars to give someone basic training.

You need to know about food and wine. You need to be able to open a bottle of wine. You need to understand the principals.

I go on to say GO TO THE MALL.

So many people I know got their starts at the mall.

Me.

My first real waiting job was at Bennigan’s.

A server at work started at Red Lobster.

Corporate restaurants have trading dollars.

They can teach you the basics the spend a week making sure you can do it.

Corporate restaurants also have steps of service you must adhere to. I don’t like them all but it servers understand when I say make sure the bread basket is off the table at the end of the meal.

He seemed annoyed when he left.

But he’ll never work in a high end restaurant unless he gets the training.

PS. As I said to someone today. No one wakes up and says I want to be a restaurant manager. They don’t say they want to be a server.

But serving will pay for a master’s degree.

Server will send you to Greece on vacation.

And serving us a respectable way to make a living. I know servers here in Maine making six figures working as a server. I know servers making more than me work 25 hours a week.

So get the experience.

Grow.

Be best.

My staff arrives.

It’s a good night.

But this time of year. With the patio open. The inside business is quiet because we split it with the patio.

That being said.

It was a long but easy night.

My day was really capped off with my meeting with Chef.

I told him about my anxiety.

I told him about my concerns.

I told him about the things that keep me up at night.

He was very kind. And reminded me of why I work there.

We addressed the things we could.

An assistant is the most important.

I have another interview on Sunday. A candidate from a restaurant group I should write about. interviewed there in 2018.

All in all a great day.

Talking about my struggles right now is freeing.

And many of my staff read this.

I just want do a good job. But when you have 543,865 balls in the air. You drop one every so often.

And I’ll end by saying my team is my saving grace.

They get me coffee so I don’t have to negotiate stairs.

The get me soda water.

They work hunches at the new restaurant as supervisors so I can get caught up.

They move my laptop from my car to the office to the car again.

And last but not least they know about the phone call and stick around to escort me to my car. So I don’t get hit over the head.

Actually last last but not least.

We’ll two actually.

Chef told me to stop running at work tonight. When we have a re-cook. I run it. So I can check in and make sure all is well. It means moving quickly. He told me to stop tonight. And protect my knee.

We also changed parking rules tonight.

I offered to park farther away.

He told me to park closer.

To park hugging the line of the dodge the runners use to get to the patio. They can still get by. And I’m next to the back door.